Why wouldn't it be?
Evening all ,
Can anyone offer a bit of advice regarding entry for a weeks holiday with family to Bulgaria. My passport expires July 2018. The arrival at the country is May 21st . Will my passport suffice or need renewal ?
Gov.co.uk throws this up for foreign travel advice to Bulgaria ?
Should I take the above as law and my passport is sound to travel on ?
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Why wouldn't it be?
Last edited by bond; 19th April 2018 at 23:29.
You’ll be fine.
All that’s needed for travel to any EU country is passport to be valid on that date.
If you travel a lot or at least once or twice a year, I would just do it.
A bit late now, but you could have already renewed the passport. They just add on the remaining months, so you are not losing anything by renewing early (and it gives you peace of mind)
https://www.gov.uk/renew-adult-passport/renew: "When you renew your passport, time left on your existing passport is added to your new one, up to a maximum of 9 months."
I was in a similar situation recently, and found that much of the guidance related more to airlines needing 3-6 months on the passport, rather than the country I was visiting.
So, an expensive trip to Newport later, and I'd renewed my passport (and gained the leftover months, as @Ares stated)
We were told in no uncertain terms by our travel agent that the airline (BA as it happens) wouldn't let you fly on a passport with less than 3 (might have been 6) months validity post travel, and had been rejecting passengers.
Took the decision not to test it (like OP, country requirement was just valid for the duration of stay).
That’s quite unfortunate. I’ve called old Blighty passport control and they said refer to the governments website and they take their stance from that website . I’ve checked my booking agent Tui and the Thompson airline which have said the same ‘valid for duration of stay’. I think I should be ok
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Try this IATA site: link...and / or give their embassy a call: contact info.
Just get a new one. Save any hassle with airline/passport control.
Cheers for the link . According to that site it states not eligible for travel . This has got me spooked I’m getting contradictory info from our passport offices and the info Bulgarian embassy have provided to them via gov.co.uk which is that it is fine . The airline I’m using seem to think it’s fine to travel but the site was a definitive no .
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I’ve just received this email
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Agree. I’ve got three separate passports on the go which means I renew more often than most. Never taken longer than a couple of weeks.